Theme & Amusement Parks in Kansas City

For more than 50 years, Cool Crest's owners have enchanted visitors with the fun park's abundance of family-friendly attractions. Flanked by emerald gardens, four 18-hole miniature golf courses lead participants to a bonus 19th hole, which rewards successful shots with a free game. Helpful staff enables drivers to hug the racetrack's corners while strapped into an open-wheel go-kart or, when in season, smack homers from batting cages hurling slow, medium, or fast pitches. Inside, a climbing playland and 7,000-square-foot arcade entertain guests throughout the year. To encourage kids to work as hard as they play, Cool Crest's staff rewards students brandishing recent report cards with up to 20 tokens, depending on their number of A's, B's, or the results from their PhD peer review. In between exhaustive sessions of play, a snack bar staff reenergizes guests with a slice or treat at Frankie's Pizzeria.

Prompted by the nod of the lifeguard’s head, the intrepid swimmer takes a deep breath, closes his eyes, and bravely flings his body into the dark confines of the Barracuda Blast. The slide’s gushing flume speeds its intrepid passenger down covered loops and twists until it spits him out unceremoniously into the warm waters of the pool below.

Boasting a host of aquatic activities, along with nearly 1,000 feet of water slides including the fearsome Barracuda, CoCo Key unleashes the inner merpeople of guests of all ages. Stationed along the pool and at each attraction, licensed lifeguards keep their eagle eyes peeled to ensure the safety of their guests as they play water basketball or engage in leisurely floats down Adventure River. Nearby, a zero-depth-entry kiddie pool serves as a merrymaking haven for children or recently unbottled miniature ships less than 48 inches tall, and a sun-drenched outdoor tanning deck enables visitors to bask in skin-browning rays. To prevent growling stomachs from interrupting watery romps, crews of chefs bustle about CoCo Key’s dining facilities, whipping up culinary sustenance for hungry swimmers.

A swarm of sock-footed kids climb up inflatable steps to reach the top of a rainbow-colored slide, sliding down in an orderly fashion before bouncing off and running back for another go. At Jumping Jax, children can safely expend energy with abandon, playing in air-filled structures that cushion them when they fall or work together to stage a production of the Icarus myth. The play arena sports a multitude of attractions including a bounce house with a Twister-board floor and two low-hanging ziplines.

Under the oppressive heat of the Missouri sun, rafts and their passengers float atop the languid current of Coyote Creek as it traces a 900-foot perimeter around Adventure Oasis Water Park's flooded playscape. The sprawling park offers a respite from the summer swelter with water activities and attractions for guests of all ages, highlighted by three towering slides, including the Sidewinder—a 308-foot raft slide—and the Scorpion, a tube slide that emulates passage through a cosmic wormhole or gigantic piece of penne pasta with a 197-foot plunge. The chutes bottom out in a placid pool, where guests can catch their breath or scale Cactus Climb, a climbing wall that hangs over the water. As grownups relax in a deck dotted with striped parasols, younger guests can run amok at Halfpint Paradise, a smaller playground stationed in a shallow pool.

A 25-yard lap pool with multiple lanes awaits more serious swimmers at Roadrunner Pass, which also boasts a diving board for those looking to perfect their swan-dive form or execute the world's first pool cannonball that actually explodes. In addition to free-range fun, Adventure Oasis's friendly waters host swim lessons and aquatic exercise programs.

Glossy hardwood bowling lanes explode with the sounds of crashing pins at Aaron's Family Fun Center, where an arcade, outdoor mini-golf course, and six sand volleyball courts keep all manner of attentions entertained. The 32-lane array gives ample space for individual and league play, though larger parties can opt to reserve The Den, a private, elegant bowling alley featuring six lanes, library-paneled walls, and no restrictions on false old-timey mustaches. The mini-golf course challenges putters to 18 holes with a range of colorful obstacles for year-round enjoyment, though unfavorable weather may limit off-season play to all but the most wind-resistant of miniature athletes.